Masculinity, Sociability, and Tuberculosis Risk: Sharing Practices in Gendered Spaces of a South African Township

Abstract Tuberculosis transmission in South Africa is marked by significant disparities across gender, race, and class, with Black working-class men bearing a disproportionate burden. An eighteen-month ethnographic study in Modimolle utilizes Northern Sotho concepts of personhood to analyze the sociocultural structuring of tuberculosis infections. Findings indicate that men perform masculinity through ritualized sharing of alcohol and tobacco in male-dominated spaces. Although these practices promote comradeship and solidarity, they also increase the risk of tuberculosis transmission. Effective interventions should address the moral values underpinning masculine sociability to inform culturally relevant, gender-sensitive strategies aimed at reducing health disparities. By grounding tuberculosis risk in local understandings of masculinity, the article contributes to masculinity studies and, drawing from medical anthropology and sociology, deepens knowledge of infectious disease in global health and African studies.